How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

[freaksavior]

i had it at 1.4, 1.42, 1.45 and they all did it.

should i go up or down for the vcore?

 

[DanishDevil]

I still need to know whether or not it was an instant crash or not.

If they displayed 3D for a little bit, then crashed, it might be temps. If they crashed right away, like flipping a switch to 3D caused it, then I think the HIS cards just might not like extra voltage. We've already seen that they operate at a slightly different voltage than most other cards, so maybe they kinda put in an inhibitor for a pencil mod or voltmod.

 

[freaksavior]

it crashes instantly

 

[DanishDevil]

Hmm. Is this one card or are you using both in CF? I'd try to back it down and shoot for about .4V over stock and see if it does the same thing. Also check to be sure that there's no graphite lying around on the card. When I thought I killed mine, I dabbed the entire card down with 70% isopropyl alcohol with cotton swabs and dried it with an air compressor, and that saved it. Also, test the voltages while you're trying to enter 3D Mode. I found that 3D voltages are usually .1V higher than bootup voltages, so maybe yours are quite a bit higher. See what they do. If they go from 2D voltages to nothing, then your card might not be able to be pencil modded.

 

[freaksavior]

just one. the diamond is dead in rma

 

[freaksavior]

i hae rubbing alcohol

 

[DanishDevil]

Did you kill it pencil modding? I would try the isopropyl alcohol. It saved my card. Take off everything, including the stickers, and give that baby a good swab-down!

Try watching the voltages the entire time, from boot to 3D mode. Let me know what you find.

Edit: Have or hate? Rubbing alcohol should work. Check the concentration percent. Anything 70+ should work great. You want more alcohol than water, for obvious reasons.

 

[freaksavior]

i sent the card to rma already.

so i should just rub it down and air for what volts?

 

[DanishDevil]

I hope you at least took the graphite off the resistor!

Yeah, I'd do a rubdown. Just to be safe. Let's see...your stock volts for the HIS was...

 

[freaksavior]

umm....i tried to.

ill rub it down

 

[DanishDevil]

Since your stock volts on the HIS was 1.24V, I would aim for 1.35V since you're having troubles in the 1.4s. When RM did his, he went from like 1.35 to 1.44. That's a 6.7% jump. I went from 1.3 to 1.44, an 11% jump. You went from 1.24 to 1.4-1.45, a 13-17% jump. You were probably overdoing it for that specific chip.

 

[freaksavior]

ok, just took it off and the stock volts 1.25

 

[DanishDevil]

K. Shoot for 1.35.

 

[freaksavior]

its at 1.4 in 3d

 

[DanishDevil]

Is that working allright? You should be able to get a few more MHz with that.

 

[freaksavior]

it still crashes

 

[DanishDevil]

Balls! Hmm. You could try to RMA it...lmao.

Your card just might not like being messed with. Try to get like 1.37 or something and see if it's stable.

 

[freaksavior]

do you think i messed it up?

its at 1.333 idle and i think it was like 1.396 load but it crashes after about 3 sec into the app

 

[DanishDevil]

You could have, but that's really weird. Did you scratch up the resistor? If you did, maybe you did too much.

 

[freaksavior]

hmm well i used my knife to GENTLY scrape off some of the lead around the resister...and i made sure i didn't cut any traces.

i got about half way through 3dmark with the 1.4v and it crashed. i think it crashed at cpu though.

ill test when i get home.

If nothing else, when my diamond gets back, i'll rma the his

 

[DanishDevil]

Damn, bad luck for ya. I'd sell you my HIS if you could return rather than RMA (premodded) good to about 877, but I doubt you can still return these...

I think the HIS cards plain just don't like more voltage.

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

They changed SOMETHING, cause mine are happy to run @ 1.56 and a little beyond with the right cooling. Granted, these were the first ones they released before Christmas last year. Pure reference design.

 

[sneekypeet]

They changed SOMETHING, cause mine are happy to run @ 1.56 and a little beyond with the right cooling. Granted, these were the first ones they released before Christmas last year. Pure reference design.

Are those hard or pencil modded Spankenstein?

1.56V on stock cooler? I ask as I see there is a water option!

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Yes to the hard mod. 100% fan on stock cooler gets no hotter than 70c. Not great, but not frightening.

I'm struggling with my loop right now as I'm switching mobos (GA-X38-DQ6) and the Silent Cool heatpipe needs it's "day in court" before I rip it off. If it's o.k., I'll get some Maze4 for the GPUs. Although the EK blocks look tempting...

 

[sneekypeet]

I was really impressed with what the Maze4 did with mine.....Good to know tho that I can pencil some pretty good voltages potentially tho!